David Arquette is happy-go-lucky Gordon Smith a dog-fearing postman in the Jersey 'burbs who likes to hang with his buddy Benny (Anthony Anderson) watching sports and eating Cheetos and enjoying a life free of responsibility. Until that is the hot neighbor Stephanie (Leslie Bibb) he's been trying unsuccessfully to date is left without a babysitter and leaves her young son James (Angus T. Jones) in his care. Meanwhile mobster baddie Sonny Talia (Paul Sorvino) puts a hit out on the hardworking FBI canine Agent Eleven who helped bust up his drug deal. Eleven escapes protective custody and ends up hitching a ride in - you guessed it -- Gordon's mail delivery truck. Now Sonny's hit men (and the FBI) are after all three of them.
Arquette who's best known for his AT&amp;T spots "Scream" movie roles and marriage to "Friend" Courteney Cox is good at pulling off the physical comedy required to portray a kid in a grown man's body with his wild hair wacky attitude fart jokes and breakdancing abilities. While most kiddie flicks feature annoyingly precocious tots you'd rather strangle than watch on-screen the pudgy terrifyingly cute Jones comes across just like any regular kid. You wouldn't guess that perfect-looking Leslie Bibb ("Popular") could be so appealing but she's willing to get dirty -- literally - and is able to pull off slapstick schtick with the best of 'em. Michael Clarke Duncan as Agent Eleven's way-too-devoted human partner Murdoch is over-the-top silly but gets plenty of laughs. The dog's cute too.
Director John Whitesell whose only other film credit is 1993's "Calendar Girl " does a good job of hanging this not-so-original tale around a likeable energetic cast that really looks like they're having fun. Thankfully the movie doesn't go overboard with sentimentality -- "Spot" hits the right emotional spot tempering the tear-jerking stuff with juvenile comedy and throwing in some jokes that'll make adults laugh too. Young and old will enjoy this movie although it might be overlong and too confusing for some very little ones to follow and some of the humor gets pretty gross - watching the hapless Arquette roll around in doggy doo for 10 minutes was a bit much.

Based on a Stephen King novel "The Green Mile" takes us behind the bars of the death row block at the Cold Mountain Correctional Facility and into the lives (and deaths) of the guards and the condemned. (The title refers to the tacky green tile that paves the way to the electric chair. What a way to go!) Life quickly changes for head block guard Paul Edgecombe (Tom Hanks) when he encounters the new inmate John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) a towering black man questionably convicted for killing two young girls yet possessing a miraculous power.
So much praise have been heaped on Hanks that one has to wonder if he's just a bit overrated. Those thoughts quickly evaporate as the actor fills the skin of another of his classic yet diverse characters. Hanks never appears to be acting as he makes us forget the Oscar-collecting performer and becomes a 1930s Louisiana prison guard. The amazing Clarke Duncan both physically menacing and radiantly warm also completely inhabits his role. Clarke Duncan is so mesmerizing as the gentle giant you'll be convinced that he was created just for this part. (Though I hope this is just the start of a long career.) With such exceptional leads it would be easy for the supporting cast to fade into the background but actors such as James Cromwell Doug Hutchison and Sam Rockwell are too good to be overlooked.
It took five years for director/screenwriter Frank Darabont to make his follow-up to his previous Stephen King penned prison drama and proves worth the wait. Darabont explores the range of human kindness and cruelty as he lovingly and patiently sculpts his large cast of characters against magnificent scenery. He trusts his attention-impaired audience to sit tight for a full three hours and rewards us with a film that breathes and surrenders rich characters that intimately bond with the viewer.

The critics have had their chance, now it's time for the people to give their two cents.
Pretty woman Julia Roberts, who carried last year's "Erin Brockovich" to the top of many a critics' lists, was chosen as favorite female movie actress by the People's Choice Awards on Sunday night.
And "The Patriot" and "What Women Want" star Mel Gibson proved to be what the whole nation wants as he was named favorite male movie star.
Funnyman Jim Carrey continues to charm audiences as the "Me, Myself and Irene" and "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" star was given the favorite star in a comedy.
Interesting, though, as the people seemed to have gotten a bit behind the times as they picked "The Green Mile" -- yes, that's the 1999 prison drama with Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan -- for both favorite film and favorite motion picture drama.
On the tube front, comedian Drew Carey -- who stars in his eponymous ABC sitcom and hosts the improv gem "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" was the People Choice's favorite male TV performer.
The favorite female TV star went to Jennifer Aniston for her work as Rachel in the NBC veteran sitcom "Friends" and actor Brad Pitt's wife. The NBC comedy series also walked away with favorite TV comedy, as did "ER," which won favorite drama series.
Erstwhile "Roseanne" guy John Goodman was named best performer in a new TV show for his swiftly extinguished "Normal, Ohio." The Fox sitcom was dumped by Fox in December after only six episodes.
In the music categories, Garth Brooks and Faith Hill were named best male and female musical performers, respectively.
And sorry Backstreet Boys, rival boy band 'N Sync was chosen as favorite musical group or band.
The People's Choice Awards -- which was broadcast live on CBS from the Pasadena Auditorium -- are chosen by a nationwide Gallup telephone poll. The "people" involved in are actually just 1,200 individuals chosen at random, which are given no nominees and can vote for any person or program they choose for each category.

Who'd have guessed that so many people would want to play an ape? But it's true. After Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter, the latest actor to join the remake of "The Planet of the Apes" as a simian is "The Green Mile" man, Michael Clarke Duncan, The Associated Press says.
Specifically, Duncan is going to play a silverback gorilla.
Helmed by Tim Burton, the much-anticipated remake also stars Mark Wahlberg, who's got the role of the rare humanoid crashing the planet.
BACK TO 'BASIC': We know a good cast when we see one: Catherine Keener ("Being John Malkovich) and Benicio Del Toro ("The Way of the Gun") might both star in "Basic," Daily Variety says. The drama concerns a DEA agent who's investigating the disappearance of an army instructor and several of his cadets.
'HOUSE' CALL: Variety also reports that Kristin Scott Thomas of "The English Patient" fame will play Kevin Kline's divorced wife in the family drama "Life as a House." The story is about a man (Kline) who sets out to build the perfect house.
LEE DOES 'STANFORD': After playing an egomaniacal rock star in "Almost Famous," Jason Lee might be set to play a regular nice guy in his next project. Variety reports that Lee will possibly play opposite Tom Green in "Stealing Stanford," about a guy (Lee) who turns to a life of crime in order to finance his niece's first year at Stanford University.
'BUFFALO' STANCE: The Hollywood Reporter says that Anna Paquin ("X-Men") is in talks to star in "Buffalo Soldiers." The dark comedy deals with a criminal subculture among a group of young U.S. soldiers in West Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and already boasts the talents of Joaquin Phoenix and Ed Harris.

"The Matrix," "Being John Malkovich," "The Sixth Sense" and "The Green Mile" -- four films either shunned or relegated to the technical categories at the Academy Awards -- were bestowed with the most prestigious trophies from the sci-fi geek world Tuesday night, named the top flicks at the 26th annual Saturn Awards. In other un-Oscar-like news, Tim Allen was named best actor (for "Galaxy Quest"). Christina Ricci took best actress honors for "Sleepy Hollow."
The festivities here at the tony Park Hyatt hotel were attended by sci-fi and movie icons ranging from Peter Fonda to Martin Landau to Sean Young to Katharine Helmond, and on down the list.
Here's a rundown of the 2000 Saturn Awards winners (note that some of the A list winners, such as Christina Ricci, Michael Clarke Duncan, etc., weren't present to accept their awards in person):
BEST SCIENCE-FICTION FILM: "The Matrix" BEST FANTASY FILM: "Being John Malkovich" BEST HORROR FILM: "The Sixth Sense" BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER: "The Green Mile" BEST ACTOR: Tim Allen, "Star Quest" BEST ACTRESS: Christina Ricci, "Sleepy Hollow" BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Clarkson, "The Green Mile" BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Michael Clarke Duncan, "The Green Mile" BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUNGER ACTOR: Haley Joel Osment, "The Sixth Sense" BEST DIRECTION: Andy and Larry Wachowski, "The Matrix" BEST WRITING: Charles Kaufman, "Being John Malkovich" BEST MUSIC: Danny Elfman, "Sleepy Hollow" BEST COSTUME: "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" BEST MAKEUP: "The Mummy" BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS: "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" BEST NETWORK TV SERIES: "Now and Again" (CBS) BEST CABLE/SYNDICATED SERIES: "Stargate: SG1" (MGM TV/Showtime) BEST SINGLE TV SHOW: "Storm of the Century (ABC) BEST TV ACTOR: David Boreanaz, "Angel" (WB) BEST TV ACTRESS: Margaret Colin, "Now and Again" (CBS) BEST TV SUPPORTING ACTOR: David Haysbert, "Now and Again" (CBS) BEST TV SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Justina Vail, "Seven Days" (UPN) THE GEORGE PAL MEMORIAL AWARD: Douglas Z. Wick THE PRESIDENT'S AWARD: Richard Donner THE LIFE CAREER AWARD: Dick Van Dyke THE LIFE CAREER AWARD: George Barris THE SERVICE AWARD: Jeffrey Walker

Where were you at 5:30 a.m. PST on Tuesday? If you're an Academy Award nominee, you were hounded by media anxious to get a first-hand reaction.
Michael Clarke Duncan and Haley Joel Osment had camera crews sitting with them to watch the nominations. While the 11-year-old "Sixth Sense" star, the third youngest Best Supporting Actor nominee ever, gave his gentlemanly "it's an honor to be nominated" sound bite, "The Green Mile's" Duncan, 42, whooped, hollered and sobbed in one breath, so excited that he couldn't remember his mother's phone number and had to get his Rolodex.
"Yesss! I am in there!" the 6-foot-5, 325-pound Duncan yelled.
Other nominees were just as excited for their collaborators. Best Actor nominee Russell Crowe was first to call his "The Insider" director Michael Mann, congratulating him on his three nominations (Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture).
"The Cider House Rules" sribe John Irving, who was in Manchester, Vt., was ecstatic over his adapted screenplay nod but shouted for joy when director Lasse Hallström received a nomination as well. And "American Beauty's" producers and writer Alan Ball assembled for a pre-dawn breakfast in Hollywood Hills, while director Sam Mendes nervously ate in a London restaurant before the announcements.
Nominees Michael Caine, Jude Law and Hilary Swank were all on location on their next project. Swank didn't have a television, so husband Chad Lowe held up a phone to their set at home so they could both listen to the announcements.
As for leading actor nominees Richard Farnsworth and Annette Bening, their post-Oscar plans will include a little bed rest: Farnsworth is awaiting hip-replacement surgery, and Bening is expecting her fourth child terribly soon after the ceremony. "It's either the hospital or the ceremony," Bening quipped. "I'll be wearing a tent."
YOUTH MOVEMENT: Oscar producers are planning the March 26 program right this second and are promising a really good show. But according to Variety's Army Archerd, telecast producer Richard Zanuck finds it "disturbing" that stars that are neither nominated nor presenting don't show up, particularly the younger generation. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, for instance, have already said they are "unavailable." That sound you hear is the gaggle of females backing out of seat-filling signups.
PUMPKIN PATCHED: Ex-Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy (full name: D'Arcy Wretzky) has agreed to take drug-prevention classes in exchange for the dismissal of cocaine possession charges. She appeared in a Chicago court Monday, accused of buying crack cocaine Jan. 25 at a building under surveillance for suspected drug sales. "I didn't do it," Wretzky said outside court. She agreed to attend four Saturday classes on drug awareness and prevention -- an option available to first-time offenders. The charges will be dropped if she completes the classes by May 19.
A REAL GOOD 'PIE': There's a new pop version of Don McLean's classic "American Pie" floating around the radio waves, sung by none other than Madonna for her upcoming film "The Next Best Thing." What does McLean think of the Material Girl's cover? "Her version ... is sensual and mystical. I hope it will cause people to ask what's happening to music in America," McLean said in a statement. But what we're wondering is, is that a good thing? Madonna's version "is a gift from a goddess," McLean continues. Oh. Question answered.
QUICK TAKES: Screen veteran Gregory Peck, 83, will reportedly make his final stage appearance Saturday with "A Conversation with Gregory Peck" in Salem, Ore. ...
... Elizabeth Taylor will be the third recipient of the Marian Anderson Award, which honors artists who work to benefit humanity. Taylor will accept the award June 25 and 26 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The award is named after the late opera singer and Philadelphia native who was the first black performer to sing at the White House ...
... Caroline Rhea ("Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'') will host the 52nd annual Writers Guild of America Awards on March 5. Presenters at the event, which will take place simultaneously at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and the Plaza Hotel in New York City, will include Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Haley Joel Osment, Michael Clarke Duncan and Dylan McDermott.

After the success of "The Shawshank Redemption," an adaptation of the Stephen King story set in a prison that received seven Academy Award nominations in 1994, writer-director Frank Darabont was poised to become the next big thing.
But the vagaries of Hollywood took over and, over the course of five years, he reportedly made uncredited contributions to the "Star Wars" prequels and the Omaha Beach opening sequences of "Saving Private Ryan."
When he did find that elusive follow-up project, it was yet another King adaptation, ironically also set in a prison. Although the director jokes, "I wasn't waiting around for five years for the next prison movie I could make -- it's really King's work I'd have to focus in on because I find he's got such a spark of humanity, a humanism in his work, even in the more obviously horror pieces. People don't really recognize ... that there's a real love of humanity in that man's work and a spirituality in his work that comes through. That's what I found most compelling about this story. It was a hell of an emotional journey. So when I read it, I thought, 'Oh, I've got to go back to prison!'"
"The Green Mile" was King's serialized novel centering on the unlikely relationship between guard Paul Edgecomb (played by Tom Hanks for the bulk of the film and veteran actor Dabs Greer in the wraparound sequences) and death row inmate John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a giant of a man who harbors paranormal empathetic abilities.
Filled with strong performances from a cast that includes a mix of recognizable performers (James Cromwell, Harry Dean Stanton, David Morse) and relative newcomers (Barry Pepper, Doug Hutchison, Sam Rockwell), the film version of "The Green Mile" generated Oscar buzz even before its theatrical release.
Darabont maintained a rather sanguine attitude, however.
"I don't really make movies for the review boards or the critics necessarily," said Darabount. "I find it ironic. This is like an instant replay of "Shawshank" for me because we're getting some fantastic reviews, and we're getting some not so fantastic reviews.
"There's never been a movie made that gets great reviews across the board. But I've noticed that some of the critics who are now lauding "Shawshank" as some kind of modern classic are the very same critics who slammed it when it first came out as being too long, too sentimental. I just can't listen to critics. They'll just keep you chasing your tail."
Maintaining his vision took several years, though. Stephen King had been so impressed with "The Shawshank Redemption" that he let Darabont option "The Green Mile" for $1. Tom Hanks joined the project after receiving the script; he, too, had been impressed with the 1994 film and at the luncheon for the Oscar nominees had expressed to Darabont a desire to work together. Once a star of Hanks' magnitude was signed, casting the other key roles became paramount.
"I got all my first choices," said Darabont. "Now some of them, mind you, I didn't know when we started casting. They had to come into the room and audition as part of that process, but there's not a single person in this movie who wasn't my first choice."
His philosophy for selecting performers is also fairly straightforward.
"I love taking actors of that caliber who haven't really had a chance to show what they can do, and I love taking them and really giving them roles like that where they just sort of burst onto the scene and [the audience says], 'My gosh, where's this guy been?'"
For three of the film's cast members, that opportunity has already begun to pay off. At 6'5" and weighing in at over 300 pounds, 36-year-old Michael Clarke Duncan is certainly noticeable. Seven years ago, he was digging ditches in his native Chicago and moonlighting as a bouncer and security guard. Despite his massive size and deep Barry White-like voice, Duncan harbored a secret dream instilled by his mother -- to be an actor. "She's the one who pushed me in that direction."
Still, the move from real-life tough guy to a reel life one had pitfalls.
"Security was my life at one point," said Duncan. "That's all I was doing, and I got with a play called "Beauty Shop, Part 2" and we toured the country for about a year. I wasn't an actor. I was the owner's bodyguard. And we shut down in L.A. about six years ago and everything kind of snowballed.
"An agent saw me trying to get some pictures made and said, 'Hey, maybe I can help you.' At first I went on at least 50 auditions and nothing came up. I was getting ready to go back home. I called my mother. I'm ready to quit. Hollywood is too tough. I admit it; I've been beaten.
"She said, 'No, you haven't. You've only been beaten if you give up, and I didn't raise a failure.' She hung up the phone. She always spoiled me and kind of hugged me, and I thought she'd say, come on, baby. ... She hung up. It was the last thing I expected from my mother and kind of toughened it up after that and made it on through."
At first, Duncan was typecast in films and TV sitcoms as a bouncer or security guard or "big guy at the door." His breakthrough came with "Armageddon," a role he landed in part by taking a risk at his audition. In front of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay, Duncan poured a bottle of water over his head before his reading, figuring it was something that would make him memorable. The strategy paid off as he landed the role which in a roundabout manner led to his casting as John Coffey in "The Green Mile."
As Duncan explained, "People told me that Bruce [Willis] was this person you do not want to get to know, to stay away from him, to not talk to him while he's in character. So when we passed [on the set], I'd put my head down or I'd avoid him totally.
And one day, I'm coming out and he's standing there, and I tried to ease away and he said, "Hold up. Your name is Michael, right?" I said, "Yes." He said, "You never speak to me." I said, "I'm not trying to be funny or anything, but I heard that you can be hell on wheels." He said, "Do I treat you like that?" I said, "I've never given you the opportunity to treat me like that." He said, "Why don't we start over?"
They shook hands and struck a friendship. It was Willis, a Stephen King fan, who told Duncan to go out and read the book, and it was Willis who called Darabont and told him, "I've found your John Coffey" (Willis and Duncan later co-starred in "The Whole Nine Yards" set for a March 2000 release).
Down-to-earth and possessing a terrific sense of humor, Duncan clearly realized the heady company he was in during the filming.
"You don't know how much joy that really gave me to come on a set and see Tom Hanks," said Duncan. "It was like playing with Michael Jordan. It's like playing with a legend."
He also realized the potential pitfalls.
"We're actors, and we get paid by what we do. And I don't go into a role and say, I don't want to offend you, I don't want to offend you ... because as an actor, you're going to offend somebody at some point in time. But you want to get out there and do the best job that you can and if I've offended anybody, I'm sorry but the bill collectors don't stop calling because you're trying not to offend the world. So you have to go out there and you have to try to do a really good job."
While crediting his mother for instilling certain values, Duncan also acknowledges "a higher being."
"I do believe that miracles happen. It's a miracle that six years, almost seven years ago, I was digging ditches in Chicago and now I'm working with a two-time Academy Award winner and everyone is talking about the movie that we did together. So you have to believe. I told some kids at my high school that, if you have a dream, you and going back to Chicago and that would have meant on a d fferent plane somebody else would be sitting here and you'd be talking to them. And I'd be in Chicago and you never would know me. But you have to believe in things like that. I think it's imperative that you do."
Co-star Doug Hutchison (who plays the prissy, mean-spirited guard Percy Wetmore) echoes a similar sentiment.
"We grow up, and we're so impatient through our 20s and we're like, what are we going to do with our lives. And I want this and I want that and then suddenly there comes a time, I think it happens at different points for different people, in our lives where you kind of just become who you are," Hutchison said. "And it settles and sifts in and suddenly you're walking down the street and you're feeling centered or something.
"And then the doors start opening. I kind of feel that in my life right now. I've dreamed this and now it's manifesting and it's happening exactly at the time it's supposed to and I'm ready. I'm thrilled. I feel blessed."
The Delaware-born, Michigan-raised Hutchison, who declines to reveal his age, has spent the past decade or so on the fringes. After five years of stage work in regional and New York theater, he became something of a cult figure with roles on "The X-Files" (as killer Eugene Tooms), "Space: Above and Beyond" (as the villainous alien Elroy-El) and "Millennium" (as the equally reprehensible "Polaroid Man"). The compact, good-looking actor who speaks in a quiet, modulated voice hardly appears to be able to muster these evil characters. Add to his rogue's gallery one of the redneck rapists responsible for an attack on a child in "A Time to Kill", though, and he becomes an obvious choice for the role of Percy. Yet, it was a long road to landing this breakout role.
"My manager called and he said there's a script called "The Green Mile" that you should read. And I read it and wept like a baby and I called him up and said, 'Sam, I will play a spear carrier in this movie. I will be a glorified extra. I just want to lend myself to this.' It was just one of the most beautiful, moving scripts I'd ever read in the entirety of my career to date. And he said, 'Well, they're interested in you for the part of Percy.'"
"At that time, Frank was only seeing a select group of people and, I wasn't part of that select selection. But Mali Finn was the casting director, and she had cast me in "A Time to Kill" and [I had] played a small role in "Batman &amp; Robin". She's been in my court for a while. She had me come in and put me on videotape and then she showed the videotape to Frank. And as the story goes, I was chomping on gum in part of my audition, and I spit it out about halfway through. Well, as soon as I came up on the screen, Frank said to Mali, 'Fast forward, I don't need to see anymore. I hate it when actors chew gum.'"
"It was actually Mali who saved the day and said, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute, Frank; just give it some time. Watch the audition and see what you think afterwards.'
"Well, despite the gum chewing, I think Frank was inclined to bring me in, which he did. I went in shaking in my boots, because it was Frank "The Shawshank Redemption" Darabont. And I auditioned and over the course of the next six and a half weeks, it was this grueling process of elimination. Every week, it was a different story. 'It's between you and 24 other guys. It's between you and 16 other guys, yada, yada, yada.' By the last weekend it got down to, 'It's between you and 2 other guys. Frank's going to make his decision on Monday.'
"So, needless to say, I spent the most sleepless weekend of my life. Monday afternoon rolls around, and there's my manager Sam standing on the threshold. And he'd never been to my apartment before, ever. I said, 'Sam, what the hell are you doing here? Did somebody die? What?'
"And he said, 'No. I just wanted to be here to tell you in the flesh that you're going to be walking "The Green Mile."
"And I literally broke down and wept in his arms."
The only real preparation Hutchison did was to study with a vocal coach to pin down the specific Louisiana dialect, which he maintained on and off screen throughout the duration of the shoot. Otherwise, "I think when you're working on a role, I think, inevitably, the character kind of slowly seeps in, in aspects and so it's always swimming around down there in your guts. But obviously I had to leave Percy on the set. It just wasn't feasible to embody Percy and walk around Los Angeles."
He does allow, however, that "emotionally and personably, I imagine if you talk to my girlfriend, she would tell you that it was a test of patience and courage to be living with aspects of Percy for three months."
While Hutchison may not have done much research to find his character, Sam Rockwell, who was cast as the heinous killer William 'Wild Bill' Wharton, a.k.a. 'Billy the Kid', immersed himself in his acting techniques to create "particularizations." The 31-year-old actor, whose resume includes indie films such as "In the Soup" and "Lawn Dogs" as well as more mainstream fare such as "William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream," often creates montages of videotapes which help him discover his characters. For "The Green Mile", in addition to relying on the book for ad libbing, he interviewed "people who'd been in jail ... talked to some correctional officers, read interviews [with prisoners] on death row" and watched documentaries such as "Scared Straight," "Harlan County USA" (for the Kentucky accent) and "Fast Food Women."
In creating the persona of this character, whom Rockwell calls "pretty clear cut," "I knew he was Huckleberry Finn and the devil mixed together. ... He's a real white trash nightmare." The actor turned to two unlikely influences: Michael Keaton in "Beetlejuice" and a young Muhammed Ali.
"One thing I was really nervous about," Rockwell said, "was the confidence this character has, because I'm more of a sort of a self-deprecating person. I'm not really a braggart and a show-off and that was what watching Muhammed Ali was really good for. Because he was a boaster, and he had that bravado. That was helpful. And watching Michael Keaton was helpful for the movements and a lot of the comedy. ... [Playing Wild Bill is] not unlike stand-up comedy. ... It felt like he was doing a stand-up routine."
Another concern for the actor, despite his credits, was being typecast. "That makes me a little nervous. I think that's one of the reasons I wanted to look different in the movie. Have false teeth and stuff like that. I think people are going to remember this character, and I want to play different characters.
"I don't think mainstream America has no idea of who I am, this'll be their first glimpse. I've got some things coming up (like playing Drew Barrymore's boyfriend in the upcoming "Charlie's Angels") where I'll be normal looking."
Having started his career on stage with his mother, Penny, now an artist, Rockwell hopes to emulate the actors he admires such as co-star Hanks to John Malkovich, John Turturro, Sean Penn, Ed Norton, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges and Jon Voight. "Those are the actors you aspire to be," said Rockwell. "Robert Duvall, somebody with that kind of versatility and longevity."
And while he hopes to "continue to do theater, it's hard because you kind of have to stay in the pipeline with film." Still, he, like Michael Clarke Duncan and Doug Hutchison, makes the same simple statement: "I've been very lucky."

"The Green Mile" premiere Monday night was accompanied by all of the fantastical effects, glitz and star power a possible Oscar contender deserves.
Director Frank Darabont returns after five years ("Shawshank Redemption") to bring Stephen King's 1996 best-selling serialized novel to the big screen.
"This is really exciting," said Darabont. "It took me this long to make another movie. I was waiting to fall in love with a story again, enough so I would go through the anguish of directing a movie. Thankfully, Stephen King gave me exactly that story."
Set on death row in a Southern prison in 1935, Tom Hanks stars as Paul Edgecomb. In flashbacks, Edgecomb recounts his tour of duty watching over a series of convicted killers awaiting execution in the electric chair.
"Stephen King wrote something that is quite in the realm of fanciful there in 1935," said Hanks. "If anybody is looking for a hard, grim, edgy, realistic look at what it's like to be on death row in a prison, I don't think they should come to 'Green Mile.'"
What audiences should look forward to are the scene-stealing performances by larger-than-life actor Michael Clarke Duncan ("Armageddon").
In his first starring role, Duncan plays John Coffey, a 7-foot inmate convicted of murdering two young girls. Beyond Coffey's massive appearance and simple nature, he possesses a prodigious and mystical gift that alters the life of anyone he touches.
On the red carpet, Duncan was responsible for also stealing most of the red carpet dazzle and Oscar buzz.
"It's amazing that people would equate Oscar talk with Michael Clarke Duncan," said Duncan. "Six years ago, I was digging ditches for the gas company. To hear Oscar talk is like a dream come true. This is just wonderful. I feel like a 6'5" 325lb. Cinderella," he said.
At the premiere in Westwood, Tom Hanks arrived arm-in-arm with wife Rita Wilson ("The Story of Us."). Hanks sported a burly beard, and Wilson looked hotter than ever in leather and crushed velvet.
"Green Mile" co-star Bonnie Hunt, who plays Hanks' wife in the film, discussed some of the challenges posed by her saucy love scenes with Hanks.
"It's the easiest job I've ever had," said Hunt. "She's (Wilson) very jealous of me, by the way. Actually, Rita requested I play the part so he would look forward to going home to her," she quipped.
Despite the premiere never turning into a Jerry Springer episode, celebrities such as Holly Robinson ("For Your Love"), Rick Fox (Los Angeles Lakers) and director Quentin Tarantino ("Jackie Brown") walked the red carpet in praise of the Oscar-caliber cast and writer King.
"He's (King) a terrific writer," said Tarantino. "He writes great characters, characters that actors want to play, and he's got a great imagination."
The film's all-star cast also includes James Cromwell ("Babe"), Michael Jeter ("Patch Adams"), Graham Green ("Dances with Wolves"), Harry Dean Stanton ("The Man Who Cried") and David Morse ("Crazy in Alabama"). Audiences can walk "The Green Mile" starting today.

Ask any of the homeless living in the tunnels and they’ll say that living underground isn’t so bad. They don’t have to pay rent they don’t have to pay for electricity and they can smoke their crack without anyone bothering them. The homeless featured here explain how they survive underground -- usually in graphic detail -- and it isn’t always pretty.
The subjects here are as real as they come: family men and women who reveal in detail how they ended up as drug addicts living in New York’s least prestigious borough.
Singer’s fascinating black-and-white exposé captures the pride these people have in their dilapidated homes and shows how they’ve adjusted to life underground. Firing off questions from behind the camera Singer manages to dig deep bringing one particular homeless woman to tears.